Whoever becomes the leader in artificial intelligence “will become the ruler of the world”, Vladimir Putin said in 2017, predicting future wars would be fought using drones. Even then, for all the Russian leader’s own ambitions, China and the US were the frontrunners in developing the technology. Yet four years later, the vision of autonomous fighting units is becoming a reality, with potentially devastating consequences. The computer scientist Stuart Russell — who will devote a forthcoming Reith Lecture on BBC radio to the subject — met UK defence officials recently to warn that incorporating AI into weapons could wipe out humanity.
2017年，弗拉基米爾?普京(Vladimir Putin)曾表示，誰成為人工智能領域的領袖，誰就“將成為世界的統治者”，并預測未來戰爭將由無人機主導。即便在那時，盡管這位俄羅斯領導人自己雄心勃勃，但中國和美國已在開發這項技術方面走在前列。然而四年后，自主作戰單位的愿景正在成為現實，而且可能帶來毀滅性后果。計算機科學家斯圖爾特?拉塞爾(Stuart Russell)最近會見了英國國防部官員，發出了一個嚴厲警告：將人工智能用于武器可能會毀滅人類。拉塞爾即將在BBC電臺的“里思講座”(Reith Lectures)就這一問題進一步闡述自己的觀點。